Friday, March 02, 2007

Angels and Dreams

The Cubs lost to the Angels today 9-6 in front of 9171 fans at Hohokam Stadium. The good--Carlos Zambrano's 2 innings pitched allowing only a single while striking out 4 of the 7 batters he faced. Matt Murton going 3 for 3 with a HR and 4 RBI's, Derrek Lee going 2 for 3, Cesar Isturis going 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored, Eric Patterson's 2 run HR, and Bob Howry, Will Ohman and Sean Gallagher combining for 4 shutout innings. The bad--Neal Cotts giving up 4 hits and 3 earned runs in one inning of work, and Cubs pitching prospect Clay Rapada getting spanked for 5 runs and 3 HR's in two thirds of an inning. Mr. Zambrano was busy making some noise off the mound as well.

Big Z says "I believe this year, I can win the Cy Young,"..."and besides that, we will win the World Series. I guarantee that. I have faith in that." Although he backed off the comments slightly saying, "I'm almost sure about that".

What's wrong with this guy doesn't he know of the Cubs nearly century long World Championship drought, doesn't he know of curses and black cats? In Zambrano's press conference on the first day of camp he said he should win 20 to 22 games this season. Big Z is anything but low key and says what he feels, he was fired up today in game two of spring training, that's just the way he is. For better or worse, Z's comments are now on the table, I believe he will do his best to help make Cubs fan's lofty dreams come true. However he is only one pitcher in the rotation and it takes a talented team to win it all. We have one month before opening day, it's going to be fun watching what kind of "team" develops, after all that's a big part of what spring training is about.